6.5.1
Table Of Contents
- vSphere Installation and Setup
- Contents
- About vSphere Installation and Setup
- Updated Information for the vSphere 6.5 Installation and Setup
- Introduction to vSphere Installation and Setup
- Overview of the vSphere Installation and Setup Process
- vCenter Server Components and Services
- Overview of the vCenter Server Appliance
- vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller Deployment Types
- Understanding vSphere Domains, Domain Names, and Sites
- Deployment Topologies with External Platform Services Controller Instances and High Availability
- Enhanced Linked Mode Overview
- About ESXi Evaluation and Licensed Modes
- Installing and Setting Up ESXi
- ESXi Requirements
- Preparing for Installing ESXi
- Download the ESXi Installer
- Options for Installing ESXi
- Media Options for Booting the ESXi Installer
- Download and Burn the ESXi Installer ISO Image to a CD or DVD
- Format a USB Flash Drive to Boot the ESXi Installation or Upgrade
- Create a USB Flash Drive to Store the ESXi Installation Script or Upgrade Script
- Create an Installer ISO Image with a Custom Installation or Upgrade Script
- PXE Booting the ESXi Installer
- Installing and Booting ESXi with Software FCoE
- Using Remote Management Applications
- Customizing Installations with vSphere ESXi Image Builder
- Required Information for ESXi Installation
- Installing ESXi
- Installing ESXi Interactively
- Installing or Upgrading Hosts by Using a Script
- Approaches for Scripted Installation
- Enter Boot Options to Start an Installation or Upgrade Script
- About Installation and Upgrade Scripts
- Install or Upgrade ESXi from a CD or DVD by Using a Script
- Install or Upgrade ESXi from a USB Flash Drive by Using a Script
- Performing a Scripted Installation or Upgrade of ESXi by Using PXE to Boot the Installer
- PXE Booting the ESXi Installer
- Installing ESXi Using vSphere Auto Deploy
- Understanding vSphere Auto Deploy
- Preparing for vSphere Auto Deploy
- Managing vSphere Auto Deploy with PowerCLI Cmdlets
- vSphere Auto Deploy PowerCLI Cmdlet Overview
- Assign an Image Profile to Hosts
- Write a Rule and Assign a Host Profile to Hosts
- Write a Rule and Assign a Host to a Folder or Cluster
- Configure a Stateless System by Running a Custom Script
- Test and Repair Rule Compliance
- Register a Caching Proxy Server Address with vSphere Auto Deploy
- Managing vSphere Auto Deploy with the vSphere Web Client
- Create a Deploy Rule
- Start the New Deploy Rule Wizard
- Name the Rule and Define Matching Criteria in the New Deploy Rule Wizard
- Select an Image Profile in the New Deploy Rule Wizard
- Select a Host Profile in the New Deploy Rule Wizard
- Select Host Location in the New Deploy Rule Wizard
- View the Summary of the New Deploy Rule Wizard
- Clone a Deploy Rule
- Start the Clone Deploy Rule Wizard
- Name the Rule and Define Matching Criteria in the Clone Deploy Rule Wizard
- Select an Image Profile in the Clone Deploy Rule Wizard
- Select a Host Profile in the Clone Deploy Rule Wizard
- Select Host Location in the Clone Deploy Rule
- View the Summary of the Clone Deploy Rule Wizard
- Editing a Deploy Rule
- Activate, Deactivate, and Reorder Deploy Rules
- View Host Associations
- Edit the Image Profile Association of a Host
- Remediate a Non-compliant Host
- Add a Host to the vSphere Auto Deploy Inventory
- Create a Deploy Rule
- Provisioning ESXi Systems with vSphere Auto Deploy
- Using vSphere Auto Deploy for Stateless Caching and Stateful Installs
- Setting Up a vSphere Auto Deploy Reference Host
- Understanding Reference Host Setup
- Options for Configuration of a vSphere Auto Deploy Reference Host
- Configure ESXi Dump Collector with ESXCLI
- Configure ESXi Dump Collector from the Host Profiles Feature in the vSphere Web Client
- Configure Syslog from the Host Profiles Feature in the vSphere Web Client
- Enable NTP Client on a Reference Host in the vSphere Web Client
- Configure Networking for Your vSphere Auto Deploy Host in the vSphere Web Client
- Configure a Reference Host for Auto-Partitioning
- vSphere Auto Deploy Best Practices and Security Consideration
- Set Up vSphere Auto Deploy and Provision Hosts with vSphere PowerCLI
- vSphere Auto Deploy Preinstallation Checklist
- Install the TFTP Server
- Install PowerCLI
- Prepare the vSphere Auto Deploy Target Hosts
- Prepare the DHCP Server for vSphere Auto Deploy Provisioning
- Configure the vSphere Auto Deploy and TFTP Environment in the vSphere Web Client
- Prepare the ESXi Software Depot and Write a Rule
- Provision the First Host with vSphere Auto Deploy
- Extract and Configure a Host Profile from the Reference Host
- Create a Rule that Provisions Hosts from a Specific IP Range
- Provision Hosts and Set Up Host Customizations
- Setting Up ESXi
- ESXi Autoconfiguration
- About the Direct Console ESXi Interface
- Enable ESXi Shell and SSH Access with the Direct Console User Interface
- Managing ESXi Remotely
- Set the Password for the Administrator Account
- Configuring the BIOS Boot Settings
- Configuring Network Settings
- Network Access to Your ESXi Host
- ESXi Networking Security Recommendations
- Choose Network Adapters for the Management Network
- Set the VLAN ID
- Configuring IP Settings for ESXi
- Configuring DNS for ESXi
- Configure the Network Settings on a Host That Is Not Attached to the Network
- Test the Management Network
- Restart the Management Agents
- Restart the Management Network
- Test Connectivity to Devices and Networks
- Restoring the Standard Switch
- Storage Behavior
- Configuring System Logging
- Set the Host Image Profile Acceptance Level
- Remove All Custom Packages on ESXi
- Disable Support for Non-ASCII Characters in Virtual Machine File and Directory Names
- Reset the System Configuration
- After You Install and Set Up ESXi
- Deploying the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance
- System Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance
- Hardware Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance
- Storage Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance
- Software Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance
- Required Ports for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller
- DNS Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance
- vSphere Web Client Software Requirements
- Preparing for Deployment of the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance
- Prerequisites for Deploying the vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller Appliance
- GUI Deployment of the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance
- Required Information for Deploying a vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller Appliance
- Deploy the vCenter Server Appliance with an Embedded Platform Services Controller by Using the GUI
- Deploy a Platform Services Controller Appliance by Using the GUI
- Deploy the vCenter Server Appliance with an External Platform Services Controller by Using the GUI
- CLI Deployment of the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance
- System Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance
- Installing vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller on Windows
- vCenter Server for Windows Requirements
- Pre-Install Checks for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller on Windows
- Hardware Requirements for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller on Windows
- Storage Requirements for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller on Windows
- Software Requirements for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller on Windows
- Database Requirements for vCenter Server on Windows
- Required Ports for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller
- DNS Requirements for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller on Windows
- vSphere Web Client Software Requirements
- Preparing for Installing vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller on Windows
- Download the vCenter Server Installer for Windows
- Preparing vCenter Server Databases for Install
- vCenter Server Database Configuration Notes
- Configure Microsoft SQL Server Databases
- Configure Oracle Databases
- Database Permission Requirements for vCenter Server
- Verify That vCenter Server Can Communicate with the Local Database
- Maintaining a vCenter Server Database
- Synchronizing Clocks on the vSphere Network
- Using a User Account for Running vCenter Server
- Installing vCenter Server on IPv6 Machines
- Running the vCenter Server Installer from a Network Drive
- Required Information for Installing vCenter Server or Platform Services Controller on Windows
- Installing vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller on Windows
- vCenter Server for Windows Requirements
- After You Install vCenter Server or Deploy the vCenter Server Appliance
- Log in to vCenter Server by Using the vSphere Web Client
- Install the VMware Enhanced Authentication Plug-in
- Collect vCenter Server Log Files
- Repoint vCenter Server to Another External Platform Services Controller
- Reconfigure a Standalone vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform Services Controller to a vCenter Server with an External Platform Services Controller
- File-Based Backup and Restore of vCenter Server Appliance
- Image-Based Backup and Restore of a vCenter Server Environment
- Considerations and Limitations for Image-Based Backup and Restore
- Use vSphere Data Protection to Back Up a vCenter Server Environment
- Use vSphere Data Protection to Restore a vCenter Server Environment
- Restore a vCenter Server Instance with an Embedded Platform Services Controller
- Restoring a vCenter Server Environment with a Single External Platform Services Controller
- Restoring a vCenter Server Environment with Multiple Platform Services Controller Instances
- Troubleshooting ESXi Booting
- Troubleshooting vCenter Server Installation or Deployment
- Decommissioning ESXi and vCenter Server
The initial boot file, pxelinux.0 or gpxelinux.0, tries to load a PXE configuration file in the following
order:
1 It tries with the MAC address of the target ESXi host, prefixed with its ARP type code, which is 01 for
Ethernet.
2 If that attempt fails, it tries with the hexadecimal notation of target ESXi system IP address.
3 Ultimately, it tries to load a file named default.
File Location for the PXE Configuration File
Save the file in /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/ on the TFTP server.
For example, you might save the file on the TFTP server at /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/01-00-21-5a-
ce-40-f6. The MAC address of the network adapter on the target ESXi host is 00-21-5a-ce-40-f6.
PXE Boot Background Information
Understanding the PXE boot process can help you during troubleshooting.
TFTP Server
Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) is similar to the FTP service, and is typically used only for network
booting systems or loading firmware on network devices such as routers. TFTP is available on Linux and
Windows.
n
Most Linux distributions include a copy of the tftp-hpa server. If you require a supported solution,
purchase a supported TFTP server from your vendor of choice. You can also acquire a TFTP server
from one of the packaged appliances on the VMware Marketplace.
n
If your TFTP server will run on a Microsoft Windows host, use tftpd32 version 2.11 or later. See
http://tftpd32.jounin.net/.
SYSLINUX, PXELINUX, and gPXELINUX
If you are using PXE in a legacy BIOS environment, you need to understand the different boot
environments.
n
SYSLINUX is an open source boot environment for machines that run legacy BIOS firmware. The
ESXi boot loader for BIOS systems, mbootc.32, runs as a SYSLINUX plugin. You can configure
SYSLINUX to boot from several types of media, including disk, ISO image, and network. You can find
the SYSLINUX package at http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/syslinux/.
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PXELINUX is a SYSXLINUX configuration for booting from a TFTP server according to the PXE
standard. If you use PXELINUX to boot the ESXi installer, the pxelinux.0 binary file, mboot.c32,
the configuration file, the kernel, and other files are all transferred by TFTP.
vSphere Installation and Setup
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